Was looking at Fletcher boards FCD and noticed they lay up all there boards with 3 layers of glass on the deck and 2 layers on the bottom wondering which of those layers are overlapped? I can’t see having more then 3 layers overlap the rail
Why not ? On my 1.5 stringerless eps i have at least 3 layers 4oz + 1 layer 10oz biax Stitch on rails. No more rails dings (and water leak…)
If you can access the Epoxy 101 Glassing DVD done by Greg Loehr a few years back; he does a “Clear” layup and a “Solid” or Opaque layup. He uses multi layers of 4oz. Have not watched the video in a few years, so don’t remember what was cut where. Nice to have at least one layer top and bottom lapped at the rail, but two each for a combo of four is much better.
I do 4 layers around the rails on my stringerless boards. I’m not concerned about the flex, I want strength.
Amen!
I add more 4 layers… Ha! That is, I like 4x4oz top and bottom and wrap 'em all, and a 45/45 deck patchs - belly and back foot.
For some historical perspective, in the mid 60s a standard glass job was double 10 oz top and bottom with 4 layers on the rails. Many labels made a point to state that in their ads.
Also, in the early days of epoxy/eps construction one of the selling points was that eps foam is lighter than poly. So the shell could be glassed stronger and still wind up in the same weight range as a poly/poly board with less glass.
You do not state what materials you are using. That can make a difference.
It’s more laps width, ie how much fiber added on flats, far from neutral flex fiber, that stiffen boards. When i used carbon on rails i sometimes get stiff because i use a wider but thinner rail tape that cover more deck and bottom. I like all layers laps but short so rails are strong but let “flats free”, and i had flats stiffeners here and there to prevent buckling.
Was talking to a guy a few months back who has the whole stringerless EPS thing pretty wired and he told me he is doing 3 on the deck and 2 on the bottom and all 5 lap on the rails. He also has some bi-axial cloth and carbon in the mix as well. Everything he is doing is vac bagged as well. His boards are fairly bulletproof.
I’ve never tried wrapping a rail with more than one layer at a time. I’m new when it comes to making a board from scratch, even though I’ve done lots of repairs. Just for my own learning; are you guys wrapping the rail one layer of cloth at a time, curing, then doing another layer or doing two and three at a time? I’ve only done deck/bottom patches under the top(or wrapping) layer of cloth and worked the epoxy into both cloth layers at the same time. Does the two or three layers of wet cloth get heavy and pull off sometimes? Would cutting the laps at varrying lengths help? Just curious.
Access Loehr’s “Epoxy 101” glassing video. Can be done either way. Everything you need to know is in that video.
Access Can be done either way. Everything is video